Employers, training providers, and workforce development organizations can use applications that support skills-based hiring to raise awareness by connecting with workers who might not know about green jobs.
One option is the talent discovery solution developed by AdeptID, one of the startups in the JFFVentures investment portfolio. A Boston-based public benefit corporation that describes itself as having been founded on the belief that “everyone is adept,” AdeptID has developed a system that enables employers to find talented workers in industries unrelated to their own and likewise helps workers identify opportunities in other sectors. It uses machine learning and predictive analytics to match people to jobs based on analysis of skills that are transferable between industries.
This type of capability is particularly useful in an emerging sector like the green economy because it helps workers understand how their experiences and interests map to jobs in areas like, say, renewable energy that they might not have been aware of.
Recruit, Train, and Hire
Other companies have adopted innovative approaches to preparing people for green jobs, with a focus on members of populations that previously haven’t benefited from green economic activity. For example, Los Angeles-based ChargerHelp, another startup in the JFFVentures investment portfolio, trains and hires technicians who maintain public electric vehicle charging stations.
Founded in 2020 by two Black women entrepreneurs, Kameale C. Terry and Evette Ellis, ChargerHelp recruits talent in communities that are disproportionately impacted by carbon emissions and whose residents are from populations that are underrepresented in the clean technology workforce, including Black and Latinx workers, women of all backgrounds, and people without college degrees. The company partners with workforce development centers to reach out to local workers. Then, in partnership with SAE International’s Sustainable Mobility Solutions unit, it trains participants, awards certifications to those who complete its programs, and hires graduates as full-time technicians who earn a family-supporting wage and receive benefits.
Of the more than 500 people it has trained, Charger Help has hired 29, 72% of whom identify as people of color.
A Just Transition to a Green Economy
At Jobs for the Future, we share Ares Foundation’s commitment to a just transition to a green economy, and we’re partnering with Ares to work on the CREST initiative, five-year, $25 million grant-funded program whose goal is to prepare individuals for climate-resilient jobs in the United States and India. As part of that effort, we’re working to create equitable access to green jobs for members of communities that have felt the worst impacts of the carbon-based economy and inequitable environmental policies.
And we know that increasing diversity in the green economy requires a fundamental shift in the makeup of businesses looking to support and create green jobs.
JFFVentures is excited to help fulfill that vision by supporting and investing in businesses that empower people in low- and middle-wage jobs and members of communities most threatened by climate change to advance climate solutions and expand the green economy.